Bracketology 2024: Gonzaga, Miami, Texas, and Virginia among week's biggest losers

Texas Longhorns

After what happened in the past week of Big 12 play, everyone not named West Virginia or Oklahoma State is in the NCAA Tournament picture. But that also means that a loss to either one of them is bad and will hurt one’s resume. That’s especially true if you’re Texas, whose resume was already shaky before a road loss to the Mountaineers this weekend.

The Longhorns now have a NET ranking from the 40’s to 60, with just a 2-3 record against Quad 1/2 opponents. The metrics are now starting to slide and had they lost to Cincinnati earlier in the week, they’d be 0-3 in the Big 12. Home games against UCF and Baylor are now “must win” before they really get onto the bubble.

Houston Cougars

The Cougars have dominated the AAC in the past decade before moving to the Big 12. In the non-con, they dominated everyone once again, having literally the best metrics and the No. 1 spot in the NET rankings. But as the past week showed, Houston has upgraded in competition on a day-to-day basis, losing to Iowa State and TCU on the road.

To be very clear, both games were clear Quad 1 losses and didn’t hurt the Cougars’ resume at all. Plus, they’re 4-2 against Quad 1 opponents. But in a race for a 1 seed, these games could come back to haunt them. It’ll be interesting to see how this team responds after some rare adversity, with home games against Texas Tech and UCF coming up.